Columns

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” —Benjamin Franklin Death and taxes misshape the legacies we mold with our lives and values. As a widower, I advise survivors to honestly accept pain and meditate until it passes. Distraught...

In our fast-paced world, productivity often takes precedence, meaning sleep is often undervalued. However, sleep has a huge impact on our overall well-being and maintaining both our physical and mental health. This article explores the relationship between sleep and mental health and the importance of...

You can hear them a long way before you see them. I’m talking about the hundreds of honey bees feasting on the nectar of the Flowering Plum blossoms. I confess I don’t know a lot about keeping bees. I even had to look up...

“Easter is the only time when it's perfectly safe to put all of your eggs in one basket.” —Evan Esar, an American Humorist Of all the holidays we celebrate in America, 12 of these are National and five are Occasions, with Easter being my favorite Occasion....

I’m so proud of myself. I write about all the important things to do in the early spring garden but often I don’t get to them myself. Seems there’s that book I’m reading or birding, hiking or wildflower walks that take priority. But this...

Some Santa Cruz Mountain residents have taxes so simple they fit on form 1040 alone—wages and pensions—and they don’t need an alphabet to complicate their taxes. The IRS divides income into three “baskets”—ordinary, capital gains and passive—and discourages offsetting losses from one basket from...

How’s your stretching game? Think of how your body feels waking up each morning. Now, try bending down. Are you able to pick things up with ease? If you move around each day with a stiff body, that can all change with a few...

Everywhere I look, it’s green—forest green, apple green, olive green, fern green, sage green, chartreuse green. Even all those showy flowering trees blooming now will soon be sporting bright green leaves.  Since moving to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the late ’80s I have always...

When you have kids who live in L.A., you find a way to visit that city on a regular basis. And when you add a sweet granddaughter to the mix, the visitation intervals really intensify. I am not, however, a fan of the drive.  I...

“Laughter is brightest where food is best.” —Irish Proverb I love cooking for people, especially when the guests are people I have never met, or perhaps for people who have paid a large sum of money to be guests at my table, with the proceeds...